Chapter Text
Things changed when the queen bee returned to school. Her little worker bees had slowly been absorbed by the art freaks, courtesy of Cady. She had no choice but to join them, although if asked, Karen and Gretchen would return to her side immediately.
Regina doesn’t sit with them everyday. Sometimes, she’s with Shane at the jock’s table. Other times, she doesn’t even show up for lunch. But when she did sit with them, she always sat far, far away from Janis. They don’t look at each other, or even attempt to join the same conversations. It was fine by both of them, orbiting a safe distance from each other, avoiding the black hole of mutually assured destruction between them.
On the few occasions that they do talk, it would be snide remarks passed back and forth until someone stepped in. Their need to tear each other down was instinctive, a reflex. So many things had gone down between the two, and neither were willing to apologise. So they existed in this weird limbo where they despised each other, but also cared way too much about each other.
Their friends attempted to help them reconnect, trying to bridge the gap between the two stubborn girls. It seemed that burning those bridges before they were built were the only times they ever worked together.
Or so their friends thought.
It all started one Friday in the middle of the semester, Gretchen decided to throw a party. Regina wasn’t feeling it. After being the object of scrutiny for years, Regina found comfort in solitude. All she wanted after a week of pretending like people weren’t staring at her was to curl up in bed and play some Minecraft. Besides, her back was acting up and it would be beneficial for her to sit on a hot compress until the ache goes away. So she texted the group chat, letting them know that she’ll pass.
Her phone buzzed. She ignored it. It dinged. Regina sighed. Ever since apologising to Gretchen and Karen, she made more of an effort to be a good friend. That meant answering Gretchen ASAP instead of leaving her to stew in her own anxiety. She opened the private message.
Gretch: you’re not coming?
Gretch: did i do something?
Regina: ur fine
Regina: im just not feeling it tonight
Regina: next time tho!
Gretch: oh!
Gretch: do you need anything?!
Regina: im really fine
Regina: just tired
Regina: enjoy the party, Gretch
Regina: dw about me
Gretch: okay…
Gretch: u can text me if you need me
Regina reacted to Gretchen’s last message. With that, she tossed her phone to the side and slipped on her headphones. She immersed herself in the world she had been playing in since she picked up the game at the start of the year. It had taken some time to reacquaint herself in the unfamiliar world. She hadn’t touched the game in years.
Now, tending to her little farm and building a civilisation from the ground up was one of the few pleasures in her life. As the peaceful music and ambient sounds surrounded her, she lost herself to the blocky world she had built from the ground up.
Hours later, her eyes were glued to the screen, carefully placing blocks for her newest redstone contraption. She didn’t need it per se. It didn’t even fit her mediaeval theme. But it was a literal plane. She had to. As her plane took off with what was possibly the loudest engine she ever heard, Regina grinned triumphantly at her screen as her little plane moved off from the runway she had built for this monumental moment.
Out of the corner of her eye, a flash of black rolled in through the window. Terror seized her throat. She ripped her headphones off and hopped off her bed, eyes wide as she searched for the intruder. “Janis?!”
“Hey.” The brunette clumsily clambered onto her feet. Her hair was a mess, eyes glazed over, and she reeked of alcohol. She straightened her clothes as if that would take away from how she was swaying from just standing there.
“Hey?!” Regina shrieked. “What the fuck are you doing?” She rounded her bed to peer out her window as if more tiny artists were going to crawl into her bedroom. There was nothing but an empty street. She turned back to Janis. A mess of emotions tangled in her chest as she regarded the clearly drunk girl with a glare.
Janis pointed a finger at her, looking as threatening as a sleepy kitten. “You, Regina George, are a bitch.”
“Okay? You had to climb in through my window to tell me that?”
Janis shushed her, making a ‘zip it’ gesture with her hands. God, drunk Janis had even more audacity than usual. “You don’t ever hang out with us anymore,” she whined. “All you do is hang out with Shane or with Gretchen and Karen and maybe Cady. You were my friend first. But now, you don’t ever wanna spend time with me.” She was pouting and Regina’s heart was pounding.
“I didn’t think you’d wanna hang out.”
“I don’t!” Janis shouted, crossing her arms over her chest. “I hate you!” Her cheeks were puffed out, eyebrows drawn together.
Regina decided that Janis was probably too drunk for a proper conversation. And that Regina was entirely too sober for this conversation. She stepped closer to Janis, tugging at her jacket. The girl continued to whine about Regina abandoning her as she pulled the outerwear off and guided her to the huge bed. Janis sat heavily on the mattress, letting Regina pull her shoes off as she cursed her out. She didn’t stop yapping for one second even as Regina pulled the pins out of her hair and wiped her face clean of makeup.
“Go to sleep,” Regina urged, guiding Janis to lay down. She had tuned most of what she said out. It was nothing new anyway. Besides, if Janis was crawling into her room at - she checked her phone - 1am, Janis must not hate her that much. When she looked back at her laptop, her eyes widened in a panic. “No, no, no, no, no,” she panicked. Her little plane had taken her far, far away. It may be 1am and she had her ex best friend in her bed, but she had more pressing issues at hand. To find her way back to base.
Janis woke up in soft sheets. Sweet lavender wrapped her in a warm hug, tempting her back to sleep. She pulled the blanket tighter over her head, trying to block out the sun.
“Good morning!” An overly loud, cheery voice pierced through her fabric cocoon. She groaned, burying herself deeper into the blanket. Only to find the thick material ripped off of her. “It’s barely morning, actually. Wake up.”
Janis cracked an eye open. Her head felt like it was splitting apart. She might actually be losing her mind because she swore that’s Regina standing in front of- blurry memories rushed back to her. Stumbling out of Gretchen’s room and somehow not waking her up. Trekking down the street with a single-minded determination. Nearly falling out of a tree in her efforts to break into the room of her best friend turned nemesis turned… something.
She shot up in the bed, immediately regretting it when her ears rang and her vision went black. A pill was pressed into her hand, a bottle in the other. “Take this, it’ll help,” Regina’s voice whispered. Janis does as she’s told. Two hands buried themselves in her mess of hair, messaging her head until she was able to open her eyes without feeling like dying. She looked up at Regina. She was staring at her like she couldn’t quite decide what to make of her. “You look like shit,” she said, pulling her hands away. Janis wanted to chase after them but resisted.
It was then that Janis noticed that Regina was in a robe, hair dripping wet. “You look wet.” The blonde was disappearing into her closet before she could get a chance to say something more normal.
“There’s an extra toothbrush under the sink,” Regina offered before closing the closet door.
Janis sighed. She was, in no way, feeling like a million bucks. She wasn’t even feeling like a single buck. But at least she didn’t feel like she was caught in a stampede anymore. She considered leaving before Regina came back out. No, she could not go home like this. Janis found the toothbrush, cringing at her reflection in the mirror. She quickly brushed her teeth, stole some of Regina’s expensive skincare, then tried to smooth her hair into something presentable.
Regina was sitting on the edge of her bed, properly clothed. She eyed Janis’s outfit as she walked out. It looked like she was about to say something. She looked away, pointing to where her jacket and shoes lay on the ottoman. Janis grabbed her things, then stood there awkwardly. Why did her drunken self think it was a good idea to come over here? “I-” She bit her lip. How could she go about apologising for this when she hadn’t apologised for the Kalteen bars and the getting hit by a bus thing?
The blonde stood up, grabbing her keys off the desk. “Come on,” she called, bored. “There’s lunch downstairs. I’ll drive you home after.”
Lunch was 2 bagels and a coffee. Janis ate them at light speed. Regina made her 2 more bagels.
“Hey, can I ask you a question?”
Regina looked up from her phone. “You just did.”
Janis rolled her eyes. “Were you playing Minecraft last night?”
“So what if I was?” Regina was defensive. That meant that she was embarrassed. Janis smirked.
“I didn’t think you were that big of a nerd. Skipping a party to play Minecraft in bed? If only the school knew who you are behind closed doors.”
Regina gave her a dirty glare. Janis really should be nicer to her. Regina did take care of her even though she didn’t have to. She had every right to throw Janis out, but she didn’t. Janis wasn’t going to analyse that now. She’ll do that later. “It helps me relax.”
Oh shit. Regina looked away with a glare. Janis felt worse now. She deflated. “I didn’t realise you still played.” She smiled softly when Regina met her eyes. “It’s been years since I’ve touched it.”
“It has changed a lot since then.” Regina accepted her olive branch. “There’s new mobs now. New biomes, new caves. The nether actually has life.”
“Maybe I should pick it up again.”
“Maybe you should.”
Regina dropped her off at her house. Janis thanked her for the ride. She climbed out the car, rounding the front to get to her house. “Hey.” Janis paused, turning to look at the blonde questioningly. “If you do pick up Minecraft again, let me know? I can start a server?”
Janis nodded, a tingling feeling spreading from her stomach to her fingers.
They don’t talk about it.
Regina was mildly disappointed when Janis acted like nothing happened. Neither would bring it up though. Not around their nosy friends. And it wasn’t like they had a chance to talk privately. Oh well. Just another incident to add to their growing list of things they won’t talk about.
Friday night, Regina got a text right as she booted up her laptop. She scowled, planning to ignore it, but her phone buzzed two more times. Sighing in annoyance, she picked it up.
Janis: guess wut??
Janis: minecraft.jpg
Janis: 😎😎😎
Her heart skipped a beat. Does that mean…?
Janis: u still down for that server?
It might be a bad idea. It was probably a bad idea. Spending time together alone would probably end in disaster. But there was a keychain of a pixelated poppy sitting in a box deep in her closet that felt like escaping into a blocky world with her best friend by her side. Nostalgia hit her hard.
Regina: yea
Regina: come over tmr?
Janis: be there at 12
Regina: guess i’ll see you at 2
Janis: 🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕
Regina smiled at her phone. It could be a bad idea. But even if they do crash and burn, at least they had the chance to fly.